Thoughts And Ramblings From The Life Of A Baptist Preacher

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I have been absent from this blog for quite a long time. I have it in my heart to do a better job of keeping you informed. I have a ton of issues I want to write about. Pray that I will find time to spend on this page.

I just wanted to inform everyone that in December Biblesoft, the makers of PC Study Bible released The Sermon Notebook as part of their PC Study Bible collection. If you are a PC Study Bible user, please go to their site and check it out here.

As always, our content remains free here on The Sermon Notebook website. However, I am grateful for the opportunity to have my sermons published with both WordSearch and now PC Study Bible. If you use either of those products, take a look at what that have done with the material on the web site here and here.

I hope you enjoy a manifestation of the Lord’s power in this Lord’s Day.

We’ve been having a great meeting at Calvary this week. Evangelist Tom Gilliam has been leading us through the book of Ruth each service. In his preaching Brother Tom has been unfolding the great theme of grace as it appears in Ruth.

In case you never noticed, the book of Ruth is tremendous picture of the grace of God in salvation.

Consider Ruth, she is from Moab. She is a cursed descendant of a cursed people. She is dead in trespasses and sins, and she is headed for Hell.

She is headed for Hell, that is, until God intervenes in her life. He butts into her situation, opens her eyes, converts her, and leads her out of Moab into Israel. Once there, she is brought by the providence of God, into the field of a man named Boaz.

She thinks she is there the glean a little grain to satisfy her hunger. God has her there to satisfy an even deeper need in her life. In that field, Ruth catches the eyes of a wealthy land owner named Boaz. Through a series of God-sized, providential, sovereignly ordained events, Ruth and Boaz are married.

A woman who was doomed is redeemed through grace. An outcast is taken in. She is brought out of darkness into light. She is delivered from death into life. She is delivered from sadness into joy. She is delivered from poverty and given wealth. She is delivered from loneliness and given a family. She is even brought into the ancestral line of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, how amazing the grace of God in this woman’s life. I thrill when I read of the power, the providence, the electing, redeeming, and life changing grace of God in the life of Ruth.

What thrills me, when I stop to think about it, is the fact that I have experienced that same grace in my life. Hallelujah!

There was a time when I lived in Moab. I was lost in sin. I was headed to Hell. I was helpless, hopeless, and completely lost. I was the living embodiment of Eph. 2:1-3, which says, “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

That was me! That was my testimony! I was dead! I was deceived! I as depraved! I was doomed! That’s where I should have stayed. I deserved to die in my sins and I deserved to go to Hell. That’s why I am thankful for the first two words of Eph. 2:4, which say, “But God…!” I just want to praise God that He “butted” into my situation.

I was lost, but God! I was dead, but God! I was deceived, but God! I was depraved, but God! I was doomed, but God!

Like Ruth, I have been delivered from my past. I have a new life in Jesus. In fact, according to Eph. 5-6, I have been quickened together with Christ, raised up with together with Christ, and seated together with Christ in heavenly places. You get that? In Romans 6, Paul says that when Jesus died, we died. When He rose from the dead, we rose with Him. When He ascended back to Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, we went with Him and sat down with Him in glory! Does that sound crazy to you? Read Romans 8:28-30. We are told there that even our glorification is a past event.

What does this all mean?

It means that those who are redeemed by Christ are saved, sealed, and secure!

It means that He has delivered us from the spiritual poverty of our past, and He has lavished the riches of Christ on us! “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” (2 Cor. 8:9)

It means that every redeemed saint of God ought to fall down before Him in worship, adoration, and praise. That is the attitude of Heaven: “And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:9–14)

May that same attitude manifest itself in the lives of every redeemed child of God.

The first night of the meeting at New Buffalo Baptist Church is Grover, NC went very well. The church is an excited, vibrant congregation of redeemed people who love the Lord Jesus Christ. Their Pastor, Brother Adam Green is exuberant and charismatic (No not that kind!). He has an infectious passion for the Lord and for the church. To say the least, it was an exciting evening. The capstone of the service came at the end when a woman, probably around the age of 70, was gloriously saved by the grace of God. Hallelujah! Please keep praying for the rest of the meeting. I am looking for the Lord to do great things among us this week.

Lord willing, I will be preaching today through Friday at New Buffalo Baptist Church in Grover, NC. The Pastor is brother Adam Green. Please pray for the meeting at New Buffalo Baptist Church. The services begin at 7:00 PM each evening.

I was with these folks last June and the Lord gave us a good week. I trust He will meet with us as we seek Him for revival this year. If you are in the area, please drop to visit. For more information about New Buffalo Baptist Church, you can visit their web page here.

The Sermon Notebook has been published by Wordseach as an add on module for both Wordsearch and Quickverse Bible study software packages. This project has been in the works for about two years. My contact at Wordsearch, brother Mike Cooper, and his team have worked very hard to format and index my sermons and to make them available to Wordsearch and Quickverse users who would like to utilize those sermons as part of their Bible study and sermon preparation workflow.

If you would like to read more about The Sermon Notebook on Wordsearch and Quickverse, or if you would like to order a copy for your own use, here is the link to the product information page. The folk at Wordsearch have also produced a video that describes the The Sermon Notebook module and shows it in action. Take a moment to check it out.

I am grateful to the team at Wordsearch, which is a division of Lifeway, for their interest in making The Sermon Notebook available in this new format. Thank you to all the regular users of The Sermon Notebook over these past 16 years. The web site has enjoyed more success than I ever imagined, and I thank the Lord for that. I am looking forward to seeing how the Lord will continue to use the web site in the future. Pray for us and for the ministry here.

If you are not a Wordsearch or Quickverse user, please take the time to look at all the exciting Bible study products they offer. The people at Wordsearch have a heart for preachers and others who regularly study the Bible and share the fruits of their study with others. They are continually searching for, and developing new content designed to aid preachers and teachers of the Word of God in their respective ministries to the body of Christ.

Those who visit The Sermon Notebook on a regular basis should know all of our content will continue to remain here at sermonnotebook.org. The software being released by Wordsearch is designed to simplify and facilitate your ability to utilize the sermons on The Sermon Notebook through the Wordsearch interface. The product sold by Wordsearch is not the same as the DVD or flash drive I make available here. In other words, what I make available will not work with Wordsearch. Check out the video above for more information.

Thanks again for your prayers and support over all these years. God bless!